


You're It!

by Ononymous



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Light-Hearted, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-12-03 01:33:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11521752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ononymous/pseuds/Ononymous
Summary: When Undyne realises her training with Asgore hasn't been the same since the Barrier was broken, she tries something unusual to get the feeling back.





	You're It!

"NGAHHH!!!"

CLANG.

The spear and the trident were locked together. But only for a moment. They came apart as their owners regrouped.

WOOSH.

A few strands of red hair were plucked from a scaly scalp as their owner dodged a strike from her opponent's scarlet weapon.

CLUNK.

She had aimed too high. Her strike hit the heavy armour on the side of his torso, and he remained solidly on his feet. She knew better than that. It was like attacking the sea with a glass of water.

THUD.

Undyne was launched into the air as the heavy knob at the base of the trident's shaft crashed into her chest. The thrill of flying numbed the pain. So, looked like he was hoping she'd land in a heap on the floor. Surely he must know that hadn't worked in years. She could work with this.

She twisted gracefully, regaining control of her positioning as her arc brought her back to the padded floor. Her legs stretched out, eager to make contact with the floor. And once they did, they started to crouch, allowing the momentum of her landing to be stored without dissipating uselessly through a rigid landing. Let it build up and fall forward a little and-

"NGAHHH!!!"

Asgore had still been reorienting his trident to meet her next attack, so it was no where near ready to actually do so at the time she launched off her landing spot at a low angle. In fact his entire lower half was open. Perhaps she should use that glass of water after all.

THUD.

"Oof!"

A blue shoulder had slammed into his breastplate, and it was his turn to leave the floor. Undyne had rebounded again and watched as he rose slightly. Asgore was deceptively agile when rooted to the ground, but mid-air positioning was much more difficult for him. Indeed as the surprise began to wipe from his face it was replaced with a small impressed smile as his head moved out of her immediate view.

WHUMP.

The padded mat skidded from its position as its occupant dragged it along with his momentum. By the time he had halted moving, Undyne had landed on her feet again and stood upright. There was a clatter as Asgore's trident fell to the floor after its owner, and promply vanished. Undyne's spear also vanished as her mouth split into a razor sharp grin. A single loud laugh emerged from her vanquished foe.

"You're getting faster," he said as he felt his stomach, "and stronger, too. I think you've dented my breastplate."

"Really?! Cool!"

She waited for him to undo some fastenings and pry the breastplate off his chest. She then took an outstretched fuzzy hand emerging from heavy looking bracers and pulled him to his feet. He scratched the back of his head, then bent over to pick up and examine his armour. As he did, Undyne regarded how stoic he looked, and her grin shrank a little as she pondered something.

"Wanna go another round, Fluffybuns?"

His own smile faded a little as he shook his head. "I can't. I'll need to get this dent straightened out, and by the time I finish school will be over. Being a father comes first. How about at the weekend?"

"Uh, sure! I bet I'll be even faster!" Her grin grew again.

"I wouldn't be surprised." he said fondly, though his expression didn't change much at the challenge.

He bowed slightly, and walked out of the room. Undyne's grin slowly melted away as she continued her thoughts.

* * *

"I'm not s-sure I understand." said Alphys, as she clamped a hand around the chair she was sitting on and continuing to text.

"I dunno if I get it myself, Alph." grunted Undyne as she lifted the the barbell up for her forty-fifth rep. "I mean, I could be imagining- gye-hey! Watch the tail!"

"Oh, s-sorry."

Alphys manoeuvred her tail under one of her legs so it wouldn't flop down again as she sat on the chair that was fixed to the middle of Undyne's weights. It had been her way of participating in her girlfriend's workouts until she could maybe move on to the third-smallest dumbbells. They were going to have to look at the positioning so that Undyne didn't have to get a face full of tail every time Alphys stopped concentrating.

"It's just, the King said you knocked him d-down faster than ever. Isn't that a g-good thing?"

"Unh! It should be. Unh!" Undyne paused to see how long she could keep the barbell in the air. "But there was something in his face. I don't think he's giving his all when we spar."

"W-well, he's always been more comfortable when he's g-gardening and sh-sharing tea and s-spending time with his family. What if he's g-gotten soft- WOAH!" The barbell had dropped suddenly.

"Unh! Sorry, babe. I don't think you're - Unh! - right though. He's always been into flowers and - Unh - tea. When I first challenged him he was planting something - Unh! - and he whipped me without even touching me. Unh!"

"B-but you were a kid then."

"Dammit, I can't find the words. Unh! What I'm trying to say is that yeah he's - Unh! - a pushover most of the time. But when - Unh! - he was training me and when we sparred - Unh! - he never held back. UNH!"

Her sixtieth repetition reached, Undyne carefully rested the barbell on its hook and sat up, allowing Alphys to gingerly climb down.

"It's n-not like you haven't g-gotten stronger, Unnie. Remember we b-bought extra weights last w-week. And a month b-before that too."

"It's not me!" Undyne growled. "And it's not about how fast he is or how much force he's putting into his attacks. It's... I think it's his attitude."

"H-his attitude?"

Undyne walked over to where her water bottle was and drained it in a single motion. Double the weight and half the reps was really wearing on her. She liked the challenge of it.

"Look," she gasped as the last of the water vanished, "I get that in Asgore's perfect world he'd be sitting in a garden forever with a magic teapot that never empties and the word 'war' had disappeared from the dictionary, and that's cool. But he never forgot that as King, sometimes you have to do nasty stuff, that you gotta fight. And whether it was me or the Royal Guard, or hell, even Frisk, he never hesitated. He'd knuckle down and go all out, because he knew we might have to go all out. You could see it in his face, as he switched to business mode. I'm not sure I see that when we spar these days, and I wanna know why."

Alphys pondered the problem for a moment. "I think I m-might know why."

"Really?!" she perked up, her razor sharp grin snapped into being. "Tell me! What's changed?!"

"In a way, e-everything."

"Huh?"

"Look, when you were trained, w-we were still, uh, at war with the s-surface. You're right, the K-King is really good at setting aside h-his own feelings when it's t-time to be King. But we're not at war anymore. As far as most humans know w-we never were at war, not really. Maybe... maybe he doesn't f-feel like he needs to push you so far?"

Undyne looked nonplussed. "Then why agree to spar with me at all? What's the point if we're not going all out?"

"Uh, w-well, you asked him to, right?"

The yellow eye widened. Of course. He really was a fuzzy pushover.

Alphys picked up what she had implied. "I-I-I-I'm not saying he doesn't enjoy it! You're not im-im-imposing on him! He p-plays fetch with the Snowdin G-Guard, doesn't he? It's how he sp-spends t-time with them. Same w-with your sparring!"

Undyne sat down on the bench again, her mind racing.

"W-why is this b-bothering you? So he's n-not pushing y-you as hard."

"I... I guess it's because he's the only one who could." Alphys patiently waited for her to continue. "You know me, Alph. If I'm not doing it the hard way, I'm miserable. And if there is no hard way, I'm pissed! Same with my skills. How can I test them?"

"Maybe you sh-should find someone else to spar with."

"It won't work, I'm just too good." she mused. There was no brag, it was a statement. "Maybe if the entire Royal Guard ganged up on me we'd be getting somewhere, but it's hard to get everyone's schedule to line up. I grew up with Asgore as the measuring stick I could never surpass. That's what made knocking him on his butt so awesome! But if I only do that now because he ain't trying anymore..."

She exhaled.

"What about Frisk?"

"You haven't seen our self defence classes. Kid sure is a great dodger, but striking back isn't in their nature. Even when I actually tried to kill them!" she exhaled again. "Maybe it's because I grew up trying to beat him. Looks like I win. Now what?"

"Why d-don't you talk to him? Maybe h-he could-"

"Nah. It's not fair to force him. I don't wanna remind him of the war just so I can get my kicks. Guess I gotta look elsewhere." she looked contemplative for a moment. Then she lept to her feet. "Okay! Alphys! Cooking lesson! Now!"

Alphys trembled. "W-what? Are you s-sure we can't j-just order a-"

"We've talked about this, babe! You already used your pizza for the week! I'm getting you in shape if it kills me! You will master cooking tofu under my patient guidance. Now hurry up, I don't wanna wait too long!"

* * *

To the average observer, Undyne appeared to be just as loud, passionate and determined over the next couple of weeks. To those who knew her and were used to her volume, she had definitely gotten louder, more passionate and more determined. Papyrus went so far as to declare a 17% elevation in all of these traits. Nobody understood how he calculated this.

Those extra weights she had bought went on the barbell immediately. After a few days she asked Alphys if she could carry a bunch of her heavier comics to make it more challenging, even letting Alphys cut down on her own weight routing if she did this, as holding the books would surely count. None of it slowed Undyne down, and she completed every workout without hassle. The same couldn't be said for her bench, which Alphys had to mend and strengthen every couple of days.

Alphys started getting phone calls from customers - and parents of customers - of Undyne's self defence classes. They had always been intense, that was part of her pitch, but judging by the rise in complaints they were growing more intense. Mrs Snowbunny was downright alarmed that Undyne suggested her son was ready to dodge live ammunition as soon as she could make the arrangements.

It wasn't just herself or customers she was pushing. Alphys soon had a picture from all their friends. If it wasn't demanding Papyrus increase his already-impeccable puzzle calibration time, it was interrupting Sans' naps to correct his sleeping posture. Alphys even had to endure a rare one-to-one conversation with Toriel, who politely asked why Undyne had brought her a large sack of flour and was encouraging her to break her previous record for number of baked pies in a day. Even Frisk wondered why Undyne was talking about their 'war face' when they paid a Froggit a compliment.

She was spending a lot of time on the phone. When pressed, she admitted that while Papyrus had agreed to drop everything and come round, getting the rest of the Royal Guard on board with a free for all was just as difficult as she predicted. Her effort to get her kicks elsewhere wasn't particularly fruitful. Alphys had to sign for a large package of books on trapeze artistry, lion taming, walking on coals, torch juggling and knitting. A few days later Undyne smelled of singed fur and some worryingly formal looking letters arrived which Alphys decided not to open. Plausible deniability could be useful.

And yet the only one who didn't witness Maximum Undyne was Asgore. If anything he saw the reverse. The next two times they trained, Undyne seemed just a little more reserved, a little slower, more reluctant to strike. This had the effect of having their matches last longer. Neither of them brought it up, however. Really, neither were actually aware of it.

Being at ground zero, Alphys got the brunt of it. Weights aside, Undyne was pushing her even harder to get fit. She even dropped hints they'd be sparring soon.

"Th-that's it!" Alphys burst out one day.

"What's it?"

"This! Asking me wh-what colour of handle I w-want on my sword? I t-told you I'm not f-fighting you! Ever since we talked about A-Asgore you've been driving everyone n-nuts with how much you're pushing you and everyone a-around you! Do you k-know what Papyrus said? 'W-wowie, Undyne sure is m-making requests that are s-slightly inconvenient to carry out immediately.' You've even g-got him ready to crack!"

Undyne had a look of shock. She'd never heard of Papyrus being so frustrated at anyone besides Sans. The shock melted into guilt.

Alphys forced herself to calm down at the look on her face. "Unnie, I know it's hard and you're trying to find something to replace what you had, but you're gonna push e-everyone away if you dive into everything h-head first. Take a 'me' day, t-try and relax and think about it, okay? I'll be in my lab."

"...okay."

Undyne watched her walk over to the lab and close the door.

"I'm sorry, Alphys."

The sounds of locks clunking into place and forcefields and laser grids starting up lasted thirty seconds.

* * *

A few hours later, Undyne had decided 'me' days weren't her scene. They were too damn quiet.

She had forced herself to walk about town and think. Thinking was a hit or miss affair at the best of times, but walking felt like agony without heavy armour to weigh her down. She ran through what kind of hobbies she could take up that would really challenge her. This wasn't a particularly productive exercise, as she was forced to ponder the chances of somebody ending up in hospital or angering those letter writers again, which forced her to scupper most of her more promising ideas.

She eventually found herself sitting at the park. It was a beautiful day outside. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming. On days like this, people like her should be hiking to Mount Ebott with a backpack full of rocks and climbing it without any equipment. Hey, that might actually be fun...

"You're it!"

Her train of thought was disrupted by the sound of laughter. Focusing on the scene in front of her, she realised she saw Asgore running around. Her brain caught up to what she was seeing. He was surrounded by children. Mostly monsters of course, as their yellow and green and blue and red and brown and white heads showed, but there were a few humans as well, including Frisk. Looked like Toriel was getting a quiet day today. Everyone was taking turns running away from a single child. She understood: They were playing tag.

She watched them for a while. Eventually, Asgore was tagged. If he had been going all out, none of these kids could have laid a finger on him. Well that was the problem, wasn't it? And yet, as he got tagged, Undyne noticed the lightest of shadows pass over his otherwise cheery face. Her eye narrowed with interest.

As he bore down on a rabbit, she noticed it again. He was obviously moving too slowly to actually touch the kid, giving him a chance to get clear, but this caused an alien expression to manifest for a moment. She observed him continue the rigmarole of letting the kids elude him, until she realised: It was frustration at holding back.

He had not been giving his all when they sparred. But maybe if it wasn't like the war...

Asgore had finally tagged someone and slowed down, protected by whatever rules they were running with. Now or never.

"HEY! Fluffybuns!"

He turned around at her cry. His face displaying a warm smile of greeting. He opened his mouth, but the impending 'Howdy' would never arrive.

"You're it!"

She had booped him on the nose, and his floppy ears twitched in surprise. The kids' own game had suspended as they watched the new challenger. Asgore's face was frozen in that smile.

"Uh, Mister Dreemurr?"

Boop.

A large clawed finger had poked Undyne right between her eye and eyepatch.

"You're it." His warm smile had evolved into a mischievous grin. She'd never seen that before, but she liked it!

"Hey Dad," came a voice from the kids, "aren't there no tag-backs...?"

Not in Undyne's rules. She reached for his shoulder. He jerked back, but not quickly enough.

"You're it!"

On the other hand, she was more than ready for his counter-attack. She lept back as he reached for her.

"You're gonna have to try harder than that!"

She began to run in earnest. To her delight, she sensed more than saw that he was pursuing her with zeal. She was vaguely aware of excited chatter and some cheering coming from the kids, but she was focused on keeping her dist-

"You're it!"

A large hand had slapped her back. Damn, she forgot how fast he could be when he wanted. She wheeled round and jabbed at what seemed to be thin air. Rather than put distance between them, he had resorted to dodging. She launched a flurry of open handed strikes, and not a single one landed.

For a moment, Asgore seemed to double in size, as she roughly trod on flowers trying to lay a hand on him, as stray rays of sunlight shone through gaps in the cavern ceiling...

" _This_ is more like it!" she bellowed. Her razor sharp grin was larger than ever.

To the kids, there was a blue and white blur between them as she grabbed for him and he evaded. They hadn't expected such a show, but weren't complaining.

"NGAHH! You're it!"

She had finally laid a hand on him. And then immediately leapt back before he could react. She toyed with summoning a spear to parry his attempts at reaching her, but her brain dully knew that making this seem like actual fighting would ruin it. This moment's thought almost cost her dearly, as she had to leap back to avoid a white blur. Her chance to get clear of him spent, she had to resort to dodging.

She felt alive. She was having to go as fast as she monsterly could, and it was only barely enough. If he had any more-

And he did. He had actually feinted, causing her to sidestep into his waiting hand.

"Hah! You're it!"

Nothing but the finest teapot had let Undyne see such life in his eyes before. Before she could tag that life out of them, he actually shot a small burst of flame to keep her back. Judging by the relative lack of heat it was more to distract than hurt, but it allowed him to put some distance between them.

"Get back here!"

She leapt high into the air and bore down on him, hand outreached. He just managed to sidestep it, and her arm was buried in the soil up to her elbow. She grasped impotently at his legs with her free hand, but it was his turn to jump clear. The time spent extracting her trapped arm was spent wisely by the King, who was walking backwards so as to keep his purple eyes on her.

"What the-? Oof!"

He had tripped over a blue spear which promptly disappeared. And before he could realise what had happened, his nose received another boop.

"HAH!"

She was making a beeline for the street. Maybe she could slow him down somehow with some obstacles. Or maybe even lose him by slipping down a side street-

A wall of flame appeared in front of her. Even though her senses were telling her it wasn't nearly hot enough to hurt her and she could leap through it unharmed, her instincts tabled their contribution and she sharply turned into an alley. A dead end. Undeterred, she ran to the very end, and then twisted around, preparing to leap over him as he advanced.

And that's when she saw it. As he methodically closed the distance, all thoughts of her next move were shoved aside by another new expression on his face.

There was more than life in his eyes now. There was a fire. His smile had a sinister edge to it that was entirely new in her experience. She had heard the stories of the rare occasions Asgore had allowed his rage to show, but had never been able to square it with the kindly fluffball she had grown up training with. Only now did she get a feeling for those stories. There was more than entertainment or joy on his face. It was a base, savage triumph. He hungered for this. For the first time in her life, she looked at him with a twinge of fear.

His arm was a white blur, and for a split second she imagined it encased in flame. She finally flinched, half expecting the worst, but-

Boop.

His clawed finger was poking just above her mouth. 

"I believe," he said politely. ", that you are it again."

The sinister aspect had instantly vanished, and he was the same old cheerful Fluffybuns. Both of them were vaguely aware of the crowd at the entrance to the alleyway.

"Fuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhu!"

They were both laughing. The alleyway reverberated with it. It was joined by cheering, as the kids ran in to thank both of them for the exciting show. Asgore jovially tussled a white head otherwise concealed by the crowd enveloping them.

"That was awesome!"

"Undyne's the best!"

"The King's so fast, I didn't expect that!"

"That spear trick was so cool!"

"Don't worry, Dad," said Frisk, "I won't tell Mom about the fire."

The broad grin on his face became more sheepish than usual.

"Ah, yes. Well," he twiddled his thumbs together in embarrassment, "I have to say, it has been a long, long time since I, er, cut loose like that."

"You're daaaaaaarn right!" yelled Undyne, successfully wrestling the curse word to the ground.

"Undyne," he had returned to his cheerful politeness. ", perhaps you and Doctor Alphys would like to join me for tea this afternoon? It has been a while, hasn't it?"

Undyne pondered the invitation. "On one condition, Asgore."

He raised an eyebrow. "And that is?"

"We're doing that again! I haven't seen you go all out in ages!"

The counter-offer seemed to weigh on him.

"Well, the thing is, when I play..." another broad grin appeared, "I play to win!"

Undyne felt like she had just won the lottery.

"However, I think we should agree not to use magic in future. I don't need stories of my shooting fire all over the place to spread."

"Why, are you afraid it might reach humans and scare them?"

"Well, yes, but I would also prefer if, em, Toriel did not catch wind of it. She'd think I was setting a bad example for the children."

"Deal!"

She punched him in the shoulder. His smile remained as it was, though he now gripped where she had struck very tightly. Instead of fire, his eyes were now watery.

* * *

"Dammit, where could he be?"

Over the past few months, they had tried a few other games besides tag. Today it was hide and seek.

"Undyne, you found all of us, maybe h-he's-"

"ALPH! Don't help!"

A few humans on the street looked curiously at the brightly coloured group standing next to the main door of the warehouse. Undyne was inspecting the statues and fixtures taken from a building that was being worked on.

"Who'd have thought humans went through a phase of carving monsters on their buildings? All these horns look like his! Hey Alphys, where'd ya say this stuff came from?"

"A c-cathedral."

"Oh, yeah."

She cautiously approached a new row of statues to examine. Let's see. Grey, grey, grey, dull grey, slightly lighter grey, grey, white and blond with purple eyes that always had a slight twinge of sadness even when he looked ecstatic, grey, dull grey ag-

Hey, wait a minute-

A mouth full of fangs arranged in a grin. A large clawed hand. Boop.

**"NGAHHH!!!"**

**Author's Note:**

> Original Version: https://pastebin.com/JqJSAKS8
> 
> Let me know what you think, and thanks for reading!


End file.
